Nigel Pearson

Where is Nigel Pearson now?

A rock at the back and a fan’s favourite for his never-say-die attitude, Nigel Pearson retired from playing in 1998 after achieving a sixth place finish in the Premier League and reaching two cup finals with Middlesbrough.

Upon retiring, Pearson immediately went into club management with Carlisle United but left them after only one season after narrowly avoiding relegation from the Football League on the last day of the 1998-99 season.

Next port of call for Pearson was Stoke City where he joined up with former Sheffield Wednesday team-mate Gary Megson as his first team coach.

Pearson was at the club for two years before getting the sack in 2001.

In 2004, Nigel Pearson was back in football as Bryan Robson’s assistant manager at West Bromwich Albion but he left the club two years later when Robson left by mutual consent and Tony Mowbray was appointed.

Pearson then had coaching spells at Newcastle United and the England U21 side as well as a brief spell as manager of Southampton before joining League One side Leicester City as manager in 2008.

Pearson had a relatively successful time at Leicester City, winning promotion to the Championship in his first season and narrowly missing out on promotion to the Premier League in his second season.

Unfortunately a strained relationship with chairman Milan Mandaric eventually broke down and Pearson left Leicester to join Hull City in 2010.

An 18 month spell at Hull ended in November 2011 when Pearson returned to Leicester City which was now under new Thai ownership.

Pearson’s second spell at Leicester City was considered a huge success, leading his side to the Premier League from the Championship in his third full season.

Unfortunately, Leicester City’s first season back in the Premier League started terribly and they found themselves bottom of the league at Christmas 2014.

However, the club managed to turn around their fortunes on the pitch and finished the season in a respectable 14th position.

Although, Leicester City had managed to secure their Premier League place, Pearson’s working relationship with the board, along with a number of other controversial incidents over the course of the season led to his sacking in June 2015.

Leicester City went onto win the Premier League title the following season with a lot of credit given to Pearson who had put together the nucleus of the side.

In May 2016, he was back in football management when he was appointed as the new manager of Championship side Derby County.

His tenure at the club was short-lived and he left by mutual consent in October 2016 following a club suspension after a heated exchange with the Derby owner.

Pearson made a return to football in September 2017 when he was appointed in his current role as head coach of Belgian second division side OH Leuven.

The Belgian side are owned by the same Thai family which own Leicester City and who sacked him as the Foxes boss in 2015.